Full Credit for being Alive

I had another bout with back pain recently and it was enough to visit the emergency room at the local hospital. They found what they thought was the problem after a few tests looking at my spine, found an arthritis thing that I will have to deal with the rest of my life, gave me some drugs and sent me home.

Drugs. I don’t understand people who are hooked on drugs. Don’t get me wrong, I have my own habits and I am far from perfect; but I just don’t understand the allure. The drugs didn’t take away the pain, they just made me not care about it. They made me inactive and loopy for days where I barely got anything done, and they just didn’t make me feel good. I don’t get it.

It reminded me of a quote from Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse Five: “How nice to feel nothing and still get full credit for being alive.” I called it being MIA, (Missing in Action) and my wife just called me loopy and scary. But that is what drugs are all about: getting credit for being alive when you really aren’t. You walk around, zombie-like, and get still pretend you are alive.

There are many things that can do this to you besides drugs. Most habits take the place of really living. You can “spend” your life on the pursuit of your personal addiction or you can “live” your life by getting involved, by getting moving, and by interacting with people. I know a lot of people who have their little smart-phones as their drug. They spend their day pressing little buttons that interact with games, friends, and just general wireless pabulum. I appreciate the ability to interact with people I would never be able to interact with outside of the internet’s social sites, but I also appreciate even more the ability to see them face to face and REALLLY INTERACT with them. I know people with over 1000 friends on Facebook; really? Really do you believe they are friends? I would much rather have a few good friends sitting in my office with me right now than 1000 somewhere in the cloud.

I pray this smart-phone generation does not get “credit for living” like the drug generation a few decades ago because this quote from Jim Morrison seems to fit today:

          “My mind and body are still out’a tune …

          I hope they run into each other real soon.”